Saturday, July 14, 2012

Author Interview-Nicolette Reed

Tell me about yourself. How long have you been writing?

My mother
first encouraged me to start writing stories as a way to express my feelings
after my parents divorced when I was seven years old. I wrote a story about a haunted house. Later
I made up stories about creatures that lived behind the tattered tiles of the
first apartment my mother and I shared alone by the beach. My imagination provided
me an escape. As life evened out and as writing instructors all told me to
“write what you know” I fell off the fantasy path. My early 20s were full of
angst and poetry, some of which were published.
After I was married and life evened out I focused on my career and my
infertility. My pen ran dry. Six years ago, after my son was born, my mother
told me about NaNoWriMo, the challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in one
month. I had never stopped writing stories in my head. I wanted to be an
inspiration to my son to always follow your dreams and also to live the last
words my Grandfather spoke to me, “I want you to be happy.”

What inspired this story?

I have
always loved stories with strong heroines since I believe that no one can give
you the strength to make it through hard times, it has to come from within.
Valora is a fae at an immediate disadvantage in her society, but she doesn’t
let that stop her. She has some self-doubt, which clouds her judgment at times,
but she plows ahead despite her blind spots to seek out the truth. Truth and
justice are a big theme in my life working in the legal field during the day,
which sometimes bleeds into my stories. I have a strong moral compass and so
does Valora. I created a world which has a lot of the same moral rules as ours
does, but has the added complication of questionable magic, hot guys, and being
on the brink of destruction. When you add those things into the mix it makes it
hard for Valora to know what is right or wrong and her definition of that
changes as she experiences things she had only ever been told stories about.

Who is your favorite shifter/vampire
character (besides your own)?

Anne Rice’s
Vampire Chronicles brought vampires into a whole new light. Her creatures of
the dark had complicated pasts which influenced how they acted once they became
the monster. Each one either embraced the beast or was fed by guilt. Both
Lestat and Louis are vampires, but they are also very different. Anne Rice
showed me that monsters are not born, they are created, and I enjoy creating
them.

How do you balance your day-to-day
commitments with your writing life?

I work full
time as a litigation paralegal, I am a wife, and I am the mother of a 6 year
old. My time to write is on my lunch hour at work and in the evenings. On the
weekends I get a few more hours, but not much.
It is surprising how many words you can write in an hour if you focus on
the scene and push it through. You don’t need hours on end to complete a novel.
You need chunks of time and a lot of perseverance. It also doesn’t hurt to have
a very supportive spouse.

Fae Hunter
is as much a fantasy romance as it is a fast-paced story full of action. There
are several scenes which put this book firmly in the adult paranormal category
and I would not recommend it for younger readers.

Valora Delos is a Hunter,
charged with tracking the treacherous Soulstealers and bringing them to
justice. Unlike the other fae of her kind, Valora was born with stunted wings
that render her flightless, driving her to prove herself in the eyes of King
Aric, with whom she has been infatuated since she first set eyes on him as a
young prince.

She descends to Earth and finds herself trapped in suburban Seattle after the
portal to her world closes. With the help of a sexy half-fae named Dooley,
Valora must find her way back to save Dell’Aria. Dooley uses his own brand of
magic to help Valora discover memories buried deep within her, which produce
more questions than answers- questions about her growing attraction to Dooley
and her devotion to her King. Uncovering who the Soulstealers are and who is
behind the destruction of Dell’Aria brings Valora a truth she may not be able
to handle.